T61P Versus New T500 Performance

[PatrickM]

I currently have a T61P with 3 GB memory, 2 GB Turbo Memory, T8100 2.10 GHZ processor with a 7100 rpm 180 GB hard drive. I recently upgraded from Vista to Windows 7. Everything works fine.

I am contemplating purchasing a T500 with a T9900 3.06 GHZ processor, Windows 7 64 bit, 6 GB ram, 2 GB Turbo ram, 320 GB 7100 RPM HDD.
This unit will have the 15.4 WSXGA + TFT screen and the ATI 3650 vidio card with 256 mb ram.

What kind of speed difference can I reasonably expect between the two configurations? My T61P is about 2 years old.

Regards,

Pat

[ryan1212]

Why Upgrade? If the T61P still meets your needs that is a mighty fine machine. Also in the early part of 2010 new T\W series are rumored to be released, having the new intel platform and better graphics chips.

FYI, The successor to the P series is the W series now. A W500 is the successor to your T61P

[PatrickM]

Thanks for information but it's really not what I asked.

Maybe someone else has the answer.

Regards,

Pat

[aaa]

Whether you're able to notice the difference depends on what you do. So, what do you do?

Did you consider an SSD? That makes a big difference speedwise in general, just getting another 7200rpm drive will result in things staying pretty much the same in that department.

[PatrickM]

The SSD's for me are not big enough yet. I have a lot of large files mostly made up of photos and such. A lot of Photoshping etc.
Some video rendering and large data manipulations using Access. I really want to be able to open programs quickly and have multiple programs open and working. I was thinking of going the workstation route but the cost is getting way up there.

I was hoping with the higher processor speed and doubling of the memory that it would make a pretty large difference.

Regards,

Pat

[Marin85]

For photoshopping and video rendering, faster cpu and more RAM can speed up things noticeably, especially with Vista/Windows 7. 6GB RAM is pretty good amount and should give you space for multitasking additionally to the Photoshop, Access or rendering tasks. As for Access, faster cpu definitely won´t hurt, but the bottleneck would be the HD (IMHO). Regarding opening programs quickly, well, the faster cpu would make some difference, but rather small. Going from you T61p configuration to the T500 configuration you mention, you won´t experience that much reduction in program launch times because laptop HDs, even in 7200rpm outfit, cannot deliver that access times and throughput. However, given a cpu like T9900 and the amount of system memory you are considering, only the first program starts after booting up would be not that fast since Vista and Windows 7 are pretty good at caching things.

A few side remarks:
1) You can upgrade your T61p cpu in way matchable to the T9900 in T500.
2) You can put 8 GB of RAM in a T61p and you can run x64 OS
3) nVidia Quadro 570M 256 MB is performance-wise not worse than the ATI 3650, In fact, it is even 'more professional', maybe including some of the tasks you are doing.
4) A workstation with the corresponding features to a T500 cannot be more expensive than the laptop (cet. par.)!

Hope this helps,

Marin

[PatrickM]

For photoshopping and video rendering, faster cpu and more RAM can speed up things noticeably, especially with Vista/Windows 7. 6GB RAM is pretty good amount and should give you space for multitasking additionally to the Photoshop, Access or rendering tasks. As for Access, faster cpu definitely won´t hurt, but the bottleneck would be the HD (IMHO). Regarding opening programs quickly, well, the faster cpu would make some difference, but rather small. Going from you T61p configuration to the T500 configuration you mention, you won´t experience that much reduction in program launch times because laptop HDs, even in 7200rpm outfit, cannot deliver that access times and throughput. However, given a cpu like T9900 and the amount of system memory you are considering, only the first program starts after booting up would be not that fast since Vista and Windows 7 are pretty good at caching things.

A few side remarks:
1) You can upgrade your T61p cpu in way matchable to the T9900 in T500.
2) You can put 8 GB of RAM in a T61p and you can run x64 OS
3) nVidia Quadro 570M 256 MB is performance-wise not worse than the ATI 3650, In fact, it is even 'more professional', maybe including some of the tasks you are doing.
4) A workstation with the corresponding features to a T500 cannot be more expensive than the laptop (cet. par.)!

Hope this helps,

Marin

Good afternoon (evening) Marin.

I would be very interested in choices 1 and 2 of your side remarks but have no idea where to begin to accomplish this. I'm pretty much a neophyte when it comes to laptops but have upgraded several desktop computers. Any help that you could offer to help me gather further information would be much appreciated.

This to me seems to be a viable option especially considering I really like this laptop and it is not that old. I would assume that going this route will void the factory warranty but I would be willing to sacrifice that for significant cost savings and added functionality for my needs.

Regards,

Pat

[Marin85]

Hi Pat,

Upgrading the RAM will not void your warranty at all. However, upgrading the cpu may void your warranty, but not necessarily. The cpu is a mountable unit just like with desktops, so even with a laptop this is actually not as complicated as it may sound. Also, you can always keep your old cpu and swap it back in case you need warranty service. Of course, this all is valid for the case you don´t break anything.

Regarding the details on upgrading your cpu, there are quite some threads about it in the T60/T61 subforum, so you may want to search that subforum. There is really plenty of information there on that specific matter. If you don´t come up with anything, just ask right away there.

As for upgrading RAM, again you can search the T60/T61 subforum, there is plenty of information about that, too. Upgrading the memory is fairly easy. I believe there are videos about how to open your ThinkPad (which screws are for the keyboard, so you can take off the keyboard, which is basically all you need to do to gain access to the memory slots) etc.

Cheers,

Marin

[PatrickM]

Thank you Marin I'll take a look around and see what I can scare up. Thanks for the information I appreciate it.

Pat